BIFL Pen request
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probably a good quality steel fountain pen you can refill, something like a LAMY 2000
Non fountain pen option? I’m not a fan of
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probably a good quality steel fountain pen you can refill, something like a LAMY 2000
Holy smokes how much!!!
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Non fountain pen option? I’m not a fan of
fountain pens are the best for BIFL; if you are serious, finding a fountain pen that works for you and learning to effectively clean, refill, and use it is your best bet
but this person claims they have used a Parker pen that they inherited that was manufactured in the 1970s and which they still make refills for … refills for a pen like that might be more expensive, and in general ballpoint pens are not going to last as long (and generally over a lifetime you won’t find pen companies that continue to manufacture compatible refills), but this might be a backup option if you just won’t consider fountain pens
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What are you asking for? A pen that you can keep refilling with ink? Once you need refill cartridges it’s no longer BIFL and the pen is just a holder for the cartridge. So any refillable pen will do. jetpens.com has a huge selection. Pick what you like.
I know that some people are into fountain pens and they are cool as a fetish, but IMHO they are less practical than other types of pens.
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fountain pens are the best for BIFL; if you are serious, finding a fountain pen that works for you and learning to effectively clean, refill, and use it is your best bet
but this person claims they have used a Parker pen that they inherited that was manufactured in the 1970s and which they still make refills for … refills for a pen like that might be more expensive, and in general ballpoint pens are not going to last as long (and generally over a lifetime you won’t find pen companies that continue to manufacture compatible refills), but this might be a backup option if you just won’t consider fountain pens
Overall you are correct.
But standard Parker and Cross can refills have been the same for longer than I’ve been alive. Very easy to get.
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Overall you are correct.
But standard Parker and Cross can refills have been the same for longer than I’ve been alive. Very easy to get.
that’s great - I bet there are some decent options out there, I just think those options are more fragile / more likely to disappear in the future or become incompatible with older pens, etc. whereas fountain pens are going to be fairly immune to the coming and going of companies, etc.
that said, I’m very happy to hear Parker pens have had reliable refills for at least a generation and probably for OP’s purposes that’s a fine pen option (fountain pens do have their downsides)
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I like Fisher Pens personally. They’re not fancy or the “best” but, they’re relatively cheap, readily available, and can write in basically any condition, including space lol
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I hear the new rotring 4 in 1 is pretty good, not as good as the original but it takes d1 refills so you can have a gel refill for smooth writing and a spacepen refill for writing on awkward things.
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I’ve had one of these for years.
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The Zebra G-450 is my daily driver. It feels sturdy, the click is satisfying, the ink basically can’t smudge, and it’s inexpensive. The refills are cheap too, and I’ve gone through maybe ten of them (writing lots of stuff in lab notebooks for work).
It doesn’t have that “buy one expensive thing that lasts forever” prestige because it’s not expensive. But I can’t wear this thing out.
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I hear the new rotring 4 in 1 is pretty good, not as good as the original but it takes d1 refills so you can have a gel refill for smooth writing and a spacepen refill for writing on awkward things.
+1 for Rotring (or rOtring as they stylize it). I use a Rapid Pro ballpoint for my daily use, had it for almost a decade now. Solid steel body, the knurling on the grip is nice, it’s a good thickness and weight for most purposes. And it takes a number of cheaply available inserts.
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I don’t think I’ve ever stopped using a pen because of a fault or end-of-life condition of the pen itself. I stop using them because “Where the actual fuck did I put my pen…?”
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When I was still using pens frequently, My good pen was a medium point Pilot Metropolitan and my beater pen was a Zebra F-701. The Zebra was damn near indestructible. The Pilot was pleasant to write with. The Zebra F301s aren’t bad either, I just managed to break them frequently.
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Don’t pretty much all pens just end up getting lost long, long before they get worn out? I’ve managed to hold onto a few for a few months but eventually they just get stolen by a borrower or the pen gnomes.
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+1 for Rotring (or rOtring as they stylize it). I use a Rapid Pro ballpoint for my daily use, had it for almost a decade now. Solid steel body, the knurling on the grip is nice, it’s a good thickness and weight for most purposes. And it takes a number of cheaply available inserts.
I have had multiple rotring 600 pens and the clicker has a very weak failpoint where if you’re not super careful clicking it, the cap of the clicker is dislodged and detaches from the pen
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The Zebra G-450 is my daily driver. It feels sturdy, the click is satisfying, the ink basically can’t smudge, and it’s inexpensive. The refills are cheap too, and I’ve gone through maybe ten of them (writing lots of stuff in lab notebooks for work).
It doesn’t have that “buy one expensive thing that lasts forever” prestige because it’s not expensive. But I can’t wear this thing out.
I’ve been using the Zebra F-701 for work for a few years now and it’s suffered getting beaten around a lot and taken it extremely well. It’s a fully metal pen, and you can get metal refills too (which I do). In my line of work, all the plastic pens I’ve used have broken, so in my search for an all-metal pen brought me to the 701 and I love it. I got my wife one too for her at work and she also loves it. Great value for money, too.
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that’s great - I bet there are some decent options out there, I just think those options are more fragile / more likely to disappear in the future or become incompatible with older pens, etc. whereas fountain pens are going to be fairly immune to the coming and going of companies, etc.
that said, I’m very happy to hear Parker pens have had reliable refills for at least a generation and probably for OP’s purposes that’s a fine pen option (fountain pens do have their downsides)
Yeah, I’ve had a couple Parker pens since I was a kid. And I still use a beat-up metal Cross pen that was my grandfather’s.
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What kind of pen are you looking for? Ballpoint pen, fountain pen, …?
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What kind of pen are you looking for? Ballpoint pen, fountain pen, …?
Ballpoint probably
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Ballpoint probably
In that case, I second the Zebra recommendation from the other posters (G models for gel, F models for ink-based ballpoints). They also make great mechanical pencils (DelGuard and M models). For fountain pens, I would go with Lamy, although I have not owned one in a while.
